Religious Images

Virgen de Guadalupe

Tonantzin

 

One of the most common religious images that I see in Mexico is that of the Virgen de Guadalupe. I understand her to be the coded embodiment of the indigenous Nahuatl earth mother Tonantzin - cleverly co-opted by the Catholic Church. Whatever she represents the imagery is beautiful and in Mexico the Virgen of Guadalupe is widely revered.

Some of her images are simple and naive while others are wildly ornate.

 

And this one is in front of our dentist's office - a free insurance plan.

There are many images of Jesus. Some of them are gory depictions of his suffering - scary.

 

Some like this huge statue of Jesus atop Cristo Rey overlooking Guanajuato are as serene as the Buddha.

There are, of course, lots of saints as in this picture from Ex-hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera.  I would be hard pressed to identify most saints unless they had arrows sticking out all over them or birds and animals in their hands.

There is a beautiful little church in Atotonilco near San Miguel de Allende where there are dramatic murals full of life all over every surface inside of the building.

Some of these murals are scary!

There is also some religious imagery that is just plain hard to comprehend as this strange crucifixion. It is on a wall in a public building in San Miguel de Allende.

And what's up with this??